Restaurants for the four days itinerary suggestion in Seoul

Like many other cities, Seoul has a variety of food, allowing tourists to enjoy a wide spectrum of tastes. Recently, Seoul has created a lot of fusion recipes combining Eastern and Western Food Cultures. Especially, enthusiastic young chefs have opened their new restaurants, challenging more experimental cuisines. In addition to that, not surprisingly, Seoul also boasts many high priced restaurants serving world-class art of cooking. Although these luxuries are worth a try, budget-oriented travelers may want to choose the best food for the least cost. In fact, I also haven't had many chances to visit those upscale restaurants. But instead, like most Koreans, it makes me happy enough to have one bowl of authentic warm soup and hearty neat dishes that rarely exceed $ 20 per person.

Although I'm not familiar with Seoul's best of the best cuisines and tables, I'd like to recommend worth-to-visit restaurants that fit my proposed four-days itinerary in Seoul. Given the limited time that we have only four days and the unusual situation that we are traveling, my list has the following restrictions:

1. It is usually about 2~5 dollars more expensive than Koreans pay in their neighborhood because it's in the tourist destination. But the menu itself is the food that most Koreans enjoy in their daily lives.

2. There may be a long line in front of the restaurants. That also stems from their being in main tourist spots.

3. Korean servers are generally hospitable, but with so many guests, the delicate personal care you are eligible for in a fine restaurant can sometimes challenge to expect.

4. There may be a language barrier. But don't worry! Most of the menus of these restaurants, which are frequented by foreigners, are displayed with pictures.

5. These restaurants may not be the best in the area. I tried to mention nice enough places close to the route that I suggested, and where I have visited once or twice.

Considering these limitations, we can taste delicious Korean food in the following restaurants while traveling in Seoul for four days.

* Many of the food photos here are acquired from the Korean Food Promotion Institute! Only Gomtang and Dakgalbi photos are from the restaurant's homepage. If you have copyright-free photos taken directly from the restaurants, please send them to me!

8. Fourth-day lunch: You still have a lot to explore

Since I recommended to go shopping at duty-free shops on the fourth day, I wouldn't be able to mention a particular restaurant for the last lunch. Instead, let me list various Korean food menus that we haven't tried yet. You can have Ganjang-gejang(Soy Sauce Marinated Crab), Doenjang-jjigae(Soybean Paste Stew), Kimchi-jjigae(Kimchi Stew), Budae-jjigae(Spicy Sausage Stew), Haemul-tang(Spicy Seafood Soup), Jogae-tang(Clam Soup), Samgyetang(Chicken Soup with Ginseng), Haemul-jjim(Braised Spicy Seafood), Agu-jjim(Braised Monkfish), Galbi-jjim(Braised Short Ribs), Saengseon-jjim(Braised Fish), Saengseon-hoe(Sliced Raw Fish), Kongnamul-gukbap(Bean Sprout and Rice Soup), Haejang-guk(Hangover Soup), Kong-guksu(Noodles in Cold Soybean Soup), Dubu-kimchi(Tofu with Stir-fried Kimchi), etc. The candidates for our last lunch are really endless!!

How do you feel like Korean food in your four days? Its unique sauces might be hard to enjoy for you. Or you might become a big fan of Korean cuisine that you can't find anywhere else in the world. We'd like to share this delicious healthy food together with the world!

Published: Nov 22, 2019

<Summary>

1. First-day lunch: Hwangsaengga Kalguksu around Gyeongbokgung

Menu : Kalguksu & Mandu

* Kalguksu: Handmade choppedflournoodles in a light beef broth

** Mandu: Handmade dumplings

Price : Kalguksu ￦9,000($8), Mandu: ￦9,000($8) * Tax included, Tip is unnecessary (The same applies to other restaurants after this)

Address : 78, Bukchon-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul (Eastside of Gyeongbokgung)

Naming : Meaning of Hwangsaengga: Birthplace of Mr. Hwang

2. First-day dinner: Amiso in Myeongdong

Menu : Recommended Menu: Bori-Gulbi Jeongsik

* Bori-Gulbi: Dried yellow corvina in barley pot

** Jeongsik: Table d'hôte; Multi-course meals at a fixed total price

Price : ￦25,000($22) per person

Address : 25, Myeongdong 4-gil, 5th floor, Jung-gu, Seoul(In Myeongdong district)

Naming : Meaning of Amiso: Hill of taste and laughter

3. Second-day lunch: Wonjo Namsan Tonkatsu near Namsan

Menu : Wang Tonkatsu

* Wang: King, Tonkatsu: Pork cutlet(Don and katsu mean pork, meat in Japanese)

Price : ￦10,500($9)

Address : 107, Sopa-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul (Around Namsan cable car station)

Naming : Meaning of Wonjo: Original

4. Second-day snack: Buchon Yukhoe in Gwangjang market

Menu : Menu: Yukhoe and Sannakji

* Yukhoe: raw beef

** Sannakji: Live Octopus

Price : Yukhoe and Sannakji set: ￦28,000($24) (Two persons can share)

Address : 200-12, Jong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Naming : Meaning of Buchon: Rich village

5. Second-day dinner: Suhadong in Lotte world mall

Menu : Gomtang

* Gomtang: Beef bone soup (Tang meas soup)

Price : Gomtang ￦12,000($10)

Address : Lotte World Mall 5F, 300, Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul

Naming : Meaning of Suhadong: Excellent eastside of river

6. Third-day lunch: Sariwon in Coex mall

Menu : Bulgogi and Naengmyeon

* Bulgogi: Marinated beef, Naengmyeon: Cold noodle

Price : Bulgogi set ￦18,500($16) per person(Naengmyeon is included)

Address : 524, Bongeunsa-ro, B1 D108, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Naming : Meaning of Sariwon - The name of the city in North Korea. Since ancient times, Naengmyeon and noodles have been famous in there.

7. Third-day dinner: Shin Mi Gyeong Dakgalbi

Menu : Dakgalbi

* Dakgalbi: Spicy Grilled Chicken

Price : Dakgalbi ￦11,000($10) (200g, 0.44lb)

Address : 32 Hongik-ro 3-gil, 2F, Mapo-gu, Seoul

Naming : Meaning of Shin Mi Gyeong: Brand name after the founder

Korean food culture (Overall)

1. Characteristics of Korean foods

Korea is the mountainous peninsular area in the mid-latitudes (From 35 to 38 degrees in most regions) with a temperate climate. Summer is quite hot and humid because of the influences of the mighty north pacific ocean. And, winter is, on the contrary, pretty cold and dry due to the expansion of high pressure of northeast Eurasia continent.

Korea's hot summer is adequate for rice agriculture. That characteristic leads to a long tradition of rice farming for almost 10,000 years. And fierce winter environment causes lack of vegetables as well as food itself from December to next spring. The main domestic animal was a cattle, which helped plow the field in their lifetime, then served as a valuable protein source after death. Fortunately, there are a lot of herbs in the mountains when the weather began to get warm in the spring. In addition to that, people were eager to grow vegetables like beans, squashes, lettuces, perilla leaves (also peppers, corns after 1600s) to get more fiber, vitamin. These are usually scarce in grains like rice, barleys. Besides, the blessed benefit of the abundance of seafood from the three sides of the sea existed.

If you think about it from these perspectives, you can understand Korean food culture. It can be roughly summarized as follows.

2. Rice is the protagonist

Even if times change, the main character of Korean food is rice. Every Korean eats rice bowl in most of the three meals a day. Average Korean takes around 60kg(130lb) of rice a year, of which amount has sharply dwindled in recent years but still equals the consumption of wheat of average Americans. Koreans also like to enjoy the rice in the form of snacks such as various types of rice cakes(TTeok), rice cookies(Ssal-gwaja), rice puffs(Bbeong-twigi), rice noodles(Ssal-kalguksu). For example, Tteok-bo-kki mixed with tteok(rice cake), red pepper paste and vegetables, and meats is one of the most popular street food in Korea. You can see it easily in food vendors.

When Koreans eat rice as their everyday meal, they enjoy a lot of side dish(Ban-chan) with the white steamed rice bowl. Typical side dish is composed of 3~4 herbs or vegetables, 1~2 main dish – meat, fish, stew(Jjigae), etc. And occasionally they eat soup(Kuk) together when they eat. Kimchi is an indispensable side dish which is the only vegetable in wintertime when the herb from mountains or their backyard are scarce. Even cold weather can't damage Kimchi stored in an underground hole. Kimchi has been the means of survival for Korean people making sense Korean's unchangeable love for it.

3. One bowl of foods was happiness

For those who can't afford all those side dishes, just one bowl of every available food was enough. The mixed rice bowl(Bi-bim-bap) is the food in which one can put everything altogether he/she can get at the time of the meal. They usually mix food with red pepper paste(Gochujang) and sesame oil produced from their backyard farming. The most important thing here is the ratio of each ingredient. The intuition how much paste and oil should be put into there is dependent on the skill of the mixer. And a small amount of lack and surfeit could hinder the highest satisfaction.

Just a few pieces of meat also could become a great one bowl of food. Of course, beef is the most valuable item that one could not easily obtain on an everyday basis. Therefore if you had got some, you should have used it thoroughly. The best way to do this is making soup. With the abundance of herbs, various kinds of soup recipes have been developed. The common thing about all of these is that you should spend quite a long time to make it. They boiled it down for hours, sometimes for a whole night, so that the nutrients in it are thoroughly dissolved into the soup. Then every member of a family was able to enjoy the deep taste of the soup with rice in it.

This one bowl of food has meant Koreans as feeling that they ate well. It gave them a small but distinctive happiness. Even nowadays, Koreans like to eat various types of 'fusion' foods, which all have a common ground of 'mixing'. K-taco(Korean foods+Taco), A-boong(Soft icecream+Fish shaped bread), K-hotdog(Hotdog+Cheese+Potato+Sweet otato+Many more), Chimac(Chicken+Beer) are all those sorts of examples. Koreans know well what goes with what, and they use a meticulous craftsmanship to make that wonderful mixture!

4. Soybean is a supporting actor

Soybeans, along with rice, are essential foods for Koreans. Vegetable proteins of soybeans mainly supplied the protein, which was not sufficient with scarce meats. Koreans who had noticed the effect of fermentation for a long time have made lots of sauces from soybeans. Red pepper paste(Gochujang), Soybean paste(Doenjang), Soy sauce(Ganjang) are three significant by-products derived from the fermentation of soybeans. And these three contribute to almost every recipe of traditional Korean cuisine. And, in making them, the salted small shrimp from the three sides sea of Korea was also a necessary ingredient to boost the taste. Soybean was also used as a raw material to make tofu, bean sprout, bean noodle, even bean juices. Fermented beans are actually why Korean foods are considered as healthy one gaining more popularity these days.

As same as other countries' cuisine, Korean food is briskly changing now. To suit the taste of Westerners who usually have bread and meats, a lot of new recipes are emerging and disappearing. They hope someday the people in the world can say, "Let's have Soybean paste bread for lunch!".

Published: Sep 17, 2019. Last updated: Oct 23, 2019